So, I keep saying what I heard when I was first introduced to iTunes: it takes over your music (or your computer), it screws up your music files, etc. My dislike of all thing iXxx is based on that. But maybe it's now just a myth.

I mean, this is based on what I heard more than five years ago, and nobody here has asked, as far as I know, what that really used to mean and whether it's still the same.

So, haters, fanboize, what's the 411?

Edit: changed the title after post 17 had been written; change was per Joe Zoz's question

I don't get the hate. I love iTunes. The only thing I don't love is browsing for video at the iTunes store. There's no way to look at multiple items at once. Drives me crazy.

 Since they created the iTunes Media folder and then sub folders for audiobooks, apps, music, tv shows, movies, etc. It is much better and does a pretty good job and keeping everything organized. 

I'm used to it now, but when I got my first ipod years ago, itunes wasn't as good as it is today, but was still better than Media Player IMO. 

I'm sure there are other options now that may be improved, but I really don't have any major gripes with iTunes today. 

 As long as you set it to NOT manage your music, it's fine.  A resource pig, but fine.  Thing that iritates me is that you can't install it with out it also installing Quicktime and a bunch of other junk and services that are running in the background.  I guess I would ask what's so great about itunes?

As far as I know, iTunes never forced you to relinquish control of your music.

back when it came out, if you bought music, you could ONLY play that music on an iPod or PC/Mac that was authorized on the account.

I still dislike itunes as a media environment........but as software I use to Backup my iPhone, iPad, and iPods... It does fine.

i don't think iTunes needs to be THAT great. i rarely use it.
mainly to back up my data and update OS.

now with iCloud (free) and iOS 5 (coming soon and free) iTunes really is not necessary. iCloud and iOS 5 give you free wireless backup of your device.
iCloud lets you redownload any music you have ever purchased right from your phone or iPod touch, same with apps.
iOS 5 also gives you OTA OS updates (finally) ....

you never need iTunes again come the fall... and it will eventually become less and less relevant.

iTunes does not screw up your music files, or take them over.
when you install iTunes it asks you if you want iTunes to ORGANIZE your music files, if you say yes, then it will just move the files in to organized folders inside an iTunes folder.

it does not change the format of the music unless you ask it to.
where you need to be careful it importing music from cd's in to iTunes.
it will import them as AAC files (which other apps support, but some do not).
you can change this in the settings to import in a specific format of your choice, along with quality options.

buying music from iTunes , the files come down as AAC, and without copyright. meaning you can buy a song from iTunes, and it will be playable on any device you own, including your droid!

iCloud also has a new option, when you buy a new song on iTunes on your PC, it will automatically dowload it to the rest of your iDevices (optionally). this is great if you don't want to connect your iOS device to your computer so often.

download it on iTouch, and it will automatically be on your iPad and PC (iTunes).

I actually switched and now LET iTunes manage my music, you just have to set the directory where you want it. It actually does a great job. I REALLY like the "Auto add to itunes" folder. Drop a file in their and it gets moved to the appropriate sub folder (music, movie, etc). 

I don't think iTunes is anything great, but of the few others that I've worked with its probably the best. I don't have any GREAT suggestions on how to improve it. 

The biggest gripe before was probably the DRM protection that no longer exists. I always set my IMPORT preferences so that I'm not compressing everything, but that's about it.

I don't get the hate, either.

I love iTunes. I don't think I've ever bought any music from the iTunes Store but I have purchased a few TV episodes that my DVR "forgot" to record. Watched them in 720p via my old, hot AppleTV and was extremely satisfied.

What I did do was rip about 800 CDs of mine into iTunes. I used to have three Sony CD jukebox mega disk changers all hooked up to an Escient FireBall. When the AppleTV (1st generation) came out I sold the FireBall (poor sucker) and fell in love with the iTunes/AppleTV interface.

I plan on getting a 2nd gen AppleTV and in the rooms with a display I will use that as the interface and in rooms with just music I will use an iPod Touch/iPhone/iPad with the Remote App and AirPlay. I love it.

I dont like all the bundleware.

I dont like the constant 80meg updates.

I dont like using it to handle metadata, because it doesnt tag the song it does it to the iTunes library file.

I dont like how it organizes Soundtracks or multi artist albums.

Otherwise its great.

I imported all of my CDs as AIFF files and I have all of them on an external hard drive. Then (because it took so long to rip all of the CDs and because bad things do, and will, happen to hard drives) I made copies of everything, twice, on two additional external hard drives as backups. I suppose I should move one of those drives to a separate location from where I live.

Says the guy that makes his girlfriend wear a mock turtleneck during sex.





btw, since the last android update, my X reboots every time I connect it to my desk dock and the car dock. Go ahead, knock yourself out. :)

hahahaha
awesome thanks for the ammo : )

That turtle neck is for her safety as well as mine!

What are you talking about? We get updates, but I would hardly say constantly and the only bundleware is QuickTime which I would have anyway to make sure I have codecs for any video type I may come across.

As for metadata, I agree that I wish it tagged the file and no just the iTunes file however if you are using apple devices it really doesn't matter.

I've started tagging all my home movies as TV Shows and creating episodes however, since it only tags the iTunes file if I have to restore I wonder if I'll have to donit all again?